Chairman Steve AmRhein opened the meeting, and Brian Scheidler kept the meeting minutes.
All board members were present for the meeting. CEO Brett Abplanalp and employee Matt Raver were also present.
Clay Nuhring moved to approve the agenda. Suzanne Parmer seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Michael Charbonneau of Indiana Electric Cooperatives Government Relations gave an update on recent events and discussed PAC contributions.
SAFETY MINUTE AND COOL MOMENT
Abplanalp showed an educational video on qualified designated observers, which are required while our crews work. For the cool moment, Abplanalp spoke about the successful Cooperative Community Day.
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
Jason Barnhorst moved to approve the minutes from the Sept. 28, 2023, board meeting. Dale Wernke seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
CEO UPDATE
Abplanalp updated the board on strategic projects, including:
- IT cyber security project
- broadband feasibility team update
- the capital credit of a deceased member’s project
He then covered September’s company metrics as prepared on CTO. September’s median temperature was flat to our five-year average. Hoosier-purchased energy was down 3.5% compared to our five-year average with demand 2.3% lower than our five-year average. Year-to-date energy sales are -2.63% under budget. There was no major storm for the month. Lost consumer hours were 137 compared to our five-year average of 2,299. The number of outages was 30 compared to our five-year average of 47.
FINANCIAL UPDATE
Raver reported on September financials as prepared on CTO. Net utility plant increased $387,107 and our current equity is 61.5%. Revenues are over the YTD budget, and power costs are over resulting in a gross margin under budget of $1,122,057 YTD. Controllable expenses are under budget by $457,886. The cash flow statement shows a beginning balance of $1.4M, and we ended the current month with a net decrease in cash of $64,353, resulting in an ending cash balance of $1,365,868.
AUDIT BIDS
Raver presented the bids for the next three-year contract. Jason Barnhorst moved to accept the offer from LWG CPAs & Advisors. Parmer seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
UNITED FUND CAMPAIGN
Abplanalp presented a video and spoke on the 2023 campaign.
2023 CAPITAL CREDIT RETIREMENT TIMING
The board agreed to retire the 2023 capital credits in December 2023.
ACCORD CASH CALL
Abplanalp presented the option to invest more capital in Accord. No action was taken.
2024 CAPITAL CREDIT RETIREMENT RESOLUTION
Abplanalp presented two resolutions to retire Hoosier Energy and Decatur County REMC capital credits for the 2024 budget. The board asked for more clarification and tabled it until the November board meeting.
MITIGATION FOR IT SERVER RISK
Management has identified an IT business risk with our current IT infrastructure. The equipment is past its useful life, and we cannot get a maintenance support contact if we have a problem. The recommendation was to purchase and expense the equipment in 2023, not to exceed $135,000.
Parmer moved to approve the budget request if it can be expensed in 2023. Steve Nobbe seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
POLICY/BYLAWS REVIEWS AND REPORT OUTS
Policy 4-8: Energy Rate Design was reviewed with no material changes.
A new policy, Policy 12-1, for cyber security awareness training and testing was presented to the board for approval.
Appendix A: Power Cost Adjustment was reviewed with a change to include the DG tracker.
Changes to the deposit requirements were proposed in the Rules and Regulations.
Dale Wernke moved to approve the changes as presented. Parmer seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS
Barnhorst updated the board on Hoosier Energy. AmRhein updated the board on IEC.
Dale Wernke moved to adjourn the meeting. Scheidler seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned to executive session at 7:30 p.m.
